Touring an Airstream Avenue

Travel is something I’ve loved from a young age and the more minimalist I’ve become, the more my love for travel has been amplified. Trying new things and seeing new sights has a hold on my heart, and I don’t think it will ever let go; I’ve got a bad case of wanderlust.

We’ve been tossing around the idea of going on four road trips over the course of the next four years to visit the four corners of the United States: Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest. Some of these trips will be much larger and longer than others for us, but we are indeed planning to do them all by car.

Half the battle with road trips is accommodations, and lodging in the US is pretty pricy. It would account for 3/4 of our budget! If we could camp out in Walmart lots and camp grounds for a good amount of the trip, most of that money would be freed back up for other things.

While purchasing any kind of an RV would be out of the question financially, we can still learn a lot from touring them that could be transferred easily into our 2014 Jeep Compass. Plus, seeing inside these units is fun!

Used Airstream Avenue: Asking $57k USD

Exterior

This gem was at our local dealer and I have to say, I was blown away. Apparently it’s been only used a handful of times, including when it was recently purchased in Florida, then driven up to Pennsylvania for sale.

The awning is a 6ft awning, controllable with the push of a button. If you look closely, you see that the chrome detailing on the side of the van looks a little wonky; not sure why… the dealer didn’t touch on it and I forgot to ask. Sorry!

Aaaaand here’s the butt! The doors open up onto the bed, which you’ll see after a few moments here. I actually really like this feature, as I think parking this in a national, or state, park (or on a beach) and watching the sunset would be amazing.

Interior

Alright, this is the good part. I have to say, I was incredibly excited to be in this thing and an overwhelming sense of adventure flooded over me. I don’t know about Trevor, but road-tripping in a van is something I for sure want to do in the near future. I felt comfortable, safe; it was clean and definitely cozy.

The dashboard is simple, straightforward, and well-designed.

This particular model had three bucket-seats: two in front, one right at the door in the back.

Someone my height, or under (I’m 5’8″), would be comfortable in this van. Trevor is just about 5’11” and he felt fairly cramped in the van. Keep this in mind if you’ve got someone tall that you’re traveling with…or, you know, if you’re tall yourself.

Oh, and that sofa behind Trevor? That converts into a queen-size bed for all your sleepy-time needs.

The kitchen and bathroom are somewhat in the same area that Trevor’s standing at in the photo, so we’ll move on to those areas.

There’s a standard-size mini fridge in the unit, that I think would be suitable for all your food needs while on the road.

The workspace in the kitchen is incredible; very thought out. Since the area is so small, it’s been designed that not a centimeter is wasted space. The area is about a 2ft section of the van.

Covered in the above photo to make a nice large prep-area, the two burner stove is the perfect balance of excess and practicality. I’ve never actually used two burners simultaneously at home, but on the road I’d imagine you’d need two for cooking and heating water for coffee/tea at the same time.

Above the kitchen is an overhead bin that is the vehicle’s control panel. I love that this panel is centrally located that you don’t have to move, or crawl around, anything to get to it.

Alright, on to the bathroom! Because it’s in a van, the ceiling is slanted. They did manage to squeeze some lights in there though. The bathroom is designed that when it’s in use the door remains open. The floor in the van is designed to catch the water, and there’s a drain in the very center of the vehicle. This way there’s room to move your arms!

The bathroom is a wet bath, meaning everything gets wet when you take a shower. The curtain comes out into the vehicle and surrounds the bathroom so the surrounding areas don’t get wet.

Finally, under the fold-out bed, there’s the fuse panel.

I hope you enjoyed this post–I love touring homes and RVs, and I find there are a lot of great ideas in smaller spaces that could be incorporated into every day life. I hope to do plenty more posts like this in the future!